Joyous Kayseri Triumphant In Kursk Epic

Zoi Dimitrakou has been instrumental for Kayseri since joining the club from French side Bourges Basket

In one of the most incredible games witnessed in EuroCup Women history, Kayseri Kaski spor suffered a 77-64 reverse at Dynamo Kursk but sneaked into the semi-finals via overtime thanks to a heroic late intervention by Zoi Dimitrakou.

The Turkish team had taken a 15-point lead to Russia from the first leg and extended their advantage to as many as 23 points in the tie with a great start to this game, when they moved 24-16 in front.

But, two disastrous middle quarters looked like it might prove costly as they missed 12 consecutive field goal attempts either side of the half-time break and began to get twitchy when the hosts went 41-31 ahead.

A 14-4 start to the third quarter by Dynamo Kursk put intense pressure on the visitors who began to crack and looked like they would wilt in the same manner as during last year's final against their opponents when they allowed a 14-point advantage to slip.

Their problems continued and were compounded by foul trouble mounting with Asjha Jones and Nuria Martinez both on four fouls and Latoya Sanders, Dimitrakou and Evanthia Maltsi all on three.

Eventually they watched in despair as Eshaya Murphy drained a triple to wipe out their advantage and put Kursk 53-36 in front.

Outscored 43-15 across a rotten 20-minute spell, it looked like Kayseri would meekly surrender and whilst they did re-discover their scoring touch in the last quarter, they still looked on course to re-live their 2012 Final nightmare when Kursk went 73-53 ahead with a little more than sixty seconds left.

That meant Kayseri were five points behind in the tie and in dire need of inspiration. It arrived via Dimitrakou who scored five points in a row, including a basket in the last couple of seconds to force overtime.

Kayseri thrived on having an unlikely second chance and with some terrific defence, held the reigning champions to just four points to progress.

Michelle Snow did her best with a double-double of 19 points and 15 points for the home side but ultimately, they were left short by their big-hitting trio of Murphy, Temeka Johnson and Ausra Bimbaite going for a truly terrible 8-of-42 from the field.